Tag Archives: Kruger

As our new church begins to grapple with the issue of what our name will be, I am thinking of ways to help us frame that discussion. I have a solid page of potential names, but none yet have made me say, “that’s it!” Perhaps one of them will bring me to that conclusion one day, but it hasn’t happened yet. I do, however, have a particular theology in mind that I want to influence our name. I have a picture, a belief, an ideal, a narrative, and a feeling that I want to see reflected in our name. And the best way that I can articulate what I’m thinking is to point you to a book I recently read: C. Baxter Kruger’s, The Great Dance: The Christian Vision Revisited.

Kruger, in a very C.S. Lewis-esque way, describes a wonderful Trinitarian picture of God, creation, the narrative we call life, and redemption in and through Jesus. There is a great dance in which we are all invited to participate — a dance that has been going since the beginning and that will continue forever. Everyone, in one way or another, knows the dance on some level. We see it all around us in that which is good, just, and beautiful. “The dance is ours — we are wired for it.” The Church, though, is the people who have heard the music and begun to know it by name; they have entered the dance; they participate in it; and they can’t help but invite people to dance with them.

So whether or not you’re in the midst of naming a church or just looking for a good read, I recommend The Great Dance. And I’ll keep you posted on our name.